


Trouble in Paradise

by StrawberryLane



Series: The Mystery of Percival Graves' Marriage [4]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Good Original Percival Graves, Gossip, M/M, MACUSA's staff, Obscurial Credence Barebone, Original Percival Graves is Bad at Feelings, POV Outsider, Rumors, Workaholic Original Percival Graves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-17 01:27:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9298100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawberryLane/pseuds/StrawberryLane
Summary: "It's clear as day," Bethany Burrows says, her wand balanced behind her ear like a no-maj journalist who's got a big scope, sipping her coffee. "Old Perce wants babies. Credence doesn't. So they fight."





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is the last part of this 'verse, me thinks, simply because I don't know how to stretch it any further. But it was real fun writing and don't think this means I'm done writing about Graves (I just can't bring myself to call him Percival? It seems weird?) and Credence. I'm not done with those two just yet! :-)

"It's clear as day," Bethany Burrows says, her wand balanced behind her ear like a no-maj journalist who's got a big scope, sipping her coffee. "Old Perce wants babies. Credence doesn't. So they fight. There's a bit of an age difference if you think about it. The clock is ticking for Graves, he's not getting any younger."

They're sitting in the lunch room again, eating, because that's what they do during lunch. The rumor mill is churning more than ever, because it's very obvious that Graves spent yet another night at the office. He's been doing that on and off for the last couple of weeks, ever since the smugglers attack on MACUSA's headquarters and it became common knowledge about exactly who his husband is.

But this week is worse then ever; Manny isn't entirely sure Graves has even been home at all. There's a bed in his office (don't tell anyone Manny knows this). His face is unshaven and he looks tired all the damn time. There are rumors flying around the building, of course, and some of them are even relatively believable:

Graves and his husband are divorcing.

Graves cheated.

His husband cheated.

They both cheated. With the Goldstein sisters.

His husband is an obscurial and therefore can't be trusted.

It's an abusive relationship. It's unclear who is abusing who.

Someone brought home a dragon without asking the other.

They're arguing about family.

Somebody is pregnant (technically true, someone somewhere is pregnant).

It's an ever growing list, not helped by the fact that Graves, keeping in line with how he handled the rumors about his marriage in the first place, has not said a word about it.

*

"It'll just be me and the wife tonight," Manny tells Graves late one day, when they are the only ones left. Manny knows Graves won't be leaving, will still be there once Manny gets back in the next morning. "Our youngest daughter just got her own place, so her brother will be sleeping there over the weekend."

Graves looks confused as to why Manny is telling him this, but nods politely.

"What I'm trying to say is, boss, that I can't help but notice you've spent a couple of nights sleeping here. I'm inviting you to stay at my place."

"I couldn't possibly do-"

"Yes you can. Like I said, it'll just be me and the wife. And Carlotta loves guests."

Carlotta does decidedly not love having guests, but Graves doesn't need to know that. Manny looks on as the man clearly sways between his choices, undecided.

"All right," Graves finally says. "If it's not too much trouble."

"Of course it isn't," Manny tells him and uses the short amount of time he has while Graves is packing an overnight bag to floo Carlotta and tell her about this possibly very stupid thing he's just done.

Carlotta isn't pleased, let's just say that. But she's good enough of an actress and enough of a bleeding heart to take Graves in with a hug and a hot cup of coca.

Graves, strangely shy in a way Manny has never seen him before, does his best to stay out of the way and be no trouble. He also confesses he's a terrible cook and really quite misses decent hot meals after a week of living on sandwiches bought in the lunchroom. "I was never any good with food spells and then I met Credence and I haven't had to cook for myself at all for a few years," he says with an embarrassed laugh and uses his next breath to compliment the chicken Carlotta has cooked. Manny's ears perk up at the casual mention of the man's husband, but Graves doesn't bring him up again.

After a lovely dinner and a conversation much less forced and awkward than Manny first feared, Manny shows Graves to the guest room in the back of the apartment.

"Thank you for this, Luna, really."

"Nothing to thank me for, sir. Common decency, really."

*

Manny is surrounded by curious witches and wizards when he arrives at work the next day, because news travel extremely fast at MACUSA apparently. Somehow they know, even though he hasn't had a chance to even breath a word about his visitor to anyone. Graves, who has finally had a chance to have a real bath and not just douse himself in cologne and use cleaning spells on himself, looks much more like his grumpy self than he has all week as he stalks past the group, ignoring Bethany Burrows' staring.

Manny becomes something of the go-to person when it comes to handling Graves after that. Because while sleeping and eating somewhere other than his office has done a lot for the man's mood, his mood is still bad, and he keeps on being a bit of an asshole to people who dares come near him. Except for Manny, who attributes this to Carlotta's magnificent chicken casserole.

It's also Carlotta, bless her, who finally coaxes something out of Graves, yet another night of Manny bringing Graves along with him.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, Percival," she says, and it's still so weird that Manny's boss actually asked them to call him Percival, "but I thought you were married? Has something happened?"

Carlotta's way of asking things straight are one of the things Manny loves about her. She has no time for bullshit, which, when it's not Manny trying to bullshit something, is a personality trait he really wishes he had himself.

Graves puts down his cutlery, but keeps his hands on the table. He clears his throat once before turning to Carlotta.

"I am married, yes. We've been... I don't know if you know this, but since your husband is my employee I'm sure you do. I have a tendency of ignoring those who disagree with me, when I think they make the wrong decision. It's something I've been meaning to work on," he gives a wry laugh.

"Credence made a decision, discussed it with me and I disagreed for entirely selfish reasons. It's been a discussion for weeks."

"Is it a big decision?" Carlotta asks, looking at Graves as if he's one of her children coming home and confessing heartbreak.

"Life alternating. There's a distinct possibility that I'll lose him because of it, and I feel as if I just got him back. I spent months after the whole Grindelwald pretending to be me thing trying to get Credence to trust me again, and now I lost him because I wouldn't listen when he needed me too."

"Honey," says Carlotta and sounds so much like Queenie Goldstein that Manny has to double check it really is his wife on the other side of the table, "It sounds like you and your young man should sit down and have a very thorough discussion and really listen to each other."

"I wish we could, but it's too late. He's already left," Graves puts his face in his hands, sighing. "I went back to the house last night and he wasn't there... He's already gone off with Scamander and Goldstein won't tell me anything and I... I just don't want him to-" Graves abruptly cuts himself off, staring over Manny's left shoulder as if there's no one else in the room.

"Don't want him to what, Percival?" asks Carlotta, stroking his hand with calm gestures, as she would a hurt child.

"I don't want him to die," Graves tells her, voice choked up and Manny suddenly understands what the man is talking about. At first he thought Graves meant that Credence had found someone else, had fallen in love with Newt Scamander, but no. Credence is an obscurial and after the trials for Grindelwald, it's common knowledge that Scamander has had previous encounters with them, has even tried, and failed, to save one.

Scamander is going to try to get the obscurus out of the obscurial and that can mean death for Credence if things goes wrong.

No wonder Graves has been distant and grumpier than usual these last few weeks.

*

After Graves' confession, Manny does his best to dispel any rumors he can without actually telling his coworkers what he knows, because he doesn't think Graves would appreciate that.

There are, after all, some things MACUSA's staff doesn't need to know.

*

Manny is sitting at his desk, chatting to Bethany to avoid doing paperwork when the doors to the office area burst open and Graves' husband comes running, literally running, through. His clothes are dirty and his hair is a mess, but he's alive and Manny finds himself laughing and smiling while Bethany stares at him, very confused as to why he would start laughing when she's talking about troll orphans.

Credence doesn't make it all the way to Graves' office, instead the man comes bursting out of his room like he sensed the younger man was near, and they meet in the middle, Credence shouting "It worked! It worked!" at his husband, surrounded by Graves' very confused staff and Manny, who can't stop laughing.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you liked it!


End file.
